Guest columnists: In this neighborhood, reading matters. So do the kids

Saturday

Mar 23, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By RAY RAY BAKER and ALLISON PINTOGuest Columnists

Something exciting and unprecedented is happening in our Central-Cocoanut neighborhood of Newtown in Sarasota. Babies, kids and adults who live here recently gathered together for a "Neighborhood Reading Meeting." This launched a conversation about what we might do together as neighbors to become the place where kids are best at reading in all of Sarasota County.

As far as we know, ours is the first neighborhood in the nation taking the initiative to help our neighborhood and broader community thrive in this way. We are the first place where neighbors are bringing about positive change by following the lead of "neighborkids."

When neighbors here talk about the thriving of all children and our whole neighborhood, it's about all 2,100 of us who live in the 47 blocks that make up Central-Cocoanut. There are 500 people up to age 18, with 300 kids up to age 10. When we say thriving, we are talking about the well-being of all of us.

Neighbors are focusing on reading (among other things) because Central-Cocoanut kids like to read, and are reading all sorts of things -- out and about in the neighborhood. Neighbors recognize that reading is connected to so many other aspects of child well-being, and is an indicator of current and future success. Also, reading skills are one aspect of children's learning that neighbors can now examine at the neighborhood scale, in relation to all other neighborhoods in Sarasota County.

What have Central-Cocoanut neighbors done?

We've set up a neighborhood hub: Sarasota Community Studio. It is a creative space established by neighbors, a converted warehouse on Central Avenue, where neighbors are coming together around the talents of neighbor kids to invent powerful approaches to community change, with reading as an initial focus.

Neighbors are finding out what kids have to say. At the bus stops in the morning, neighbor kids have shared their views on the best age by which to be able to read. So far, about 30 percent of the elementary school-age neighbor kids have weighed in; the most frequent response is age 5.

That means many kids here believe a child ought to be reading by kindergarten, not by third grade as professionals in child development and education typically suggest! There is wisdom in the responses and neighbors are paying attention.

Neighbors have created a neighborhood data profile and gallery displaying charts and maps to bring the state of our neighborhood into focus. We update this information to inform the decisions we make and actions we take.

Neighbors know how many babies, kids and adults live in Central-Cocoanut, how many kids go to each school in the district, how neighbor kids are doing on the FCAT in every grade, and how we compare to other neighborhoods.

We have information about housing, employment, health and voting in the neighborhood because these factors influence children's reading.

Neighbor kids and adults are continuing the conversation with fellow neighbors. We are also meeting with principals and faculty at the schools attended by kids of Central-Cocoanut, though none of the schools is located within the boundaries of our neighborhood. In these ways, the potential for mutually beneficial collaboration increases.

Here are some of the ideas for promoting reading that have been generated by neighbors so far: kids reading to babies. Kids and babies reading to puppies. Neighbors being available as reading buddies. Adults being photographed, by kids, while reading. Reviving a neighbor kid-oriented newspaper.

In many cities, these kinds of efforts are called place-based initiatives. (See the websites of Promise Neighborhoods and the Annie E. Casey Foundation for examples.)

Elsewhere, however, efforts are started by professionals, not by neighbors. They are restricted to neighborhoods with schools inside their boundaries. They are about kids, but not about following the lead of kids. They focus on "gaps," rather than building upon the evidence of talent and success that already exist.

As neighbor kids of Central-Cocoanut say: We're different, yeah, we're different -- because the efforts begin with neighbors, follow the lead of kids, and focus on strengths.

Neighbors are inventing approaches that fit our place best, recognizing that by discovering what works in our neighborhood we will be solving a mystery that challenges the broader Sarasota community.

Ray Ray Baker, 15, is a Central-Cocoanut resident, mother of 1-year-old Ja'Loni, and student at Riverview High. She has contributed to the neighborhood since she was 11. Allison Pinto is a neighbor of Central-Cocoanut and co-director of Sarasota Community Studio.

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